I was just watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome the other day and began to thing about the trilogy.
Mad Max - lawlessness is breaking out in a formally civil society and Max, part of the new highway law, is dealing with the bands of transient gangs and loses his family. Fuel is very important for these gangs to carry out their transient thievery.
The Road Warrior - Max, assuming years and miles removed from the original, stumbles upon a holdout of civilization against the now well-developed lawless gangs. The gangs covet the oil rig and refined fuel of the island of civilization.
Thunderdome - Max, again farther removed, stumbles upon the beginnings of new trade and civilization. Energy is of utmost importance for the economic development of any society, so the issues with MasterBlaster and Tina.
My issue is with the Road Warrior. The running themes are supposed to be the threat of lawlessenss and scarcity of energy. However, the whole energy does not make sense in the second installment. Yes, the civilized peeps need it to eventually caravan to what may be a better location. Why, though, do the lawless hordes want the fuel? They don't seem to have aspirations to move, in fact, they seem to be getting along quite fine in the desert. Further, with all the fuel they burn circling and antagonizing the civilized peeps, they could have been long gone. There is just no need for that fuel in this installment.